Man who abducted, raped toddler in Lucknow shot dead in encounter: Police
CCTV footage from the area reportedly showed the accused picking up the child and walking towards a lift, the Lucknow police said.
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A forensic team at the encounter site in Lucknow, Friday. (ANI)A 21-year-old man who had allegedly abducted and raped a two-and-a half-year-old girl in Lucknow on Thursday was shot dead in an encounter in the early hours on Friday, a little over 24 hours after the crime, police said. The girl is undergoing treatment at a hospital, where doctors said her condition is stable after a surgery on Friday.
Police said they identified the accused, Deepak Verma, by tracking the details of a vehicle he had used at the time of the crime. He was carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information on his whereabouts. Verma, who was also known as Nanu, was a local resident who had earlier worked as a water vendor on trains, police said.
Ashish Srivastava, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Lucknow, said the victim’s parents approached the local police station on Thursday and submitted a complaint saying that an unidentified person abducted and raped their daughter while they were asleep near the Metro station. On the basis of their statement, a case was registered and a probe launched.
Police examined CCTV footage of the area and claimed to have identified a youth arriving at the spot in a vehicle. The footage showed the man purportedly picking up the child, who was sleeping beside her mother, and walking towards a lift on the premises. After allegedly assaulting the girl, the youth was seen fleeing in his vehicle.
Based on the vehicle’s details, the police identified Verma and reached his house but did not find him there. As they began searching possible hideouts in the early hours of Friday, the police got a tip-off that Verma was trying to flee the district. Subsequently, a trap was laid to apprehend him, officers said.
When a police team spotted him in the Alambagh area and asked him to surrender, he tried to escape on his two-wheeler, which skidded after a short distance. Police claimed that after he fell on the road, they again urged him to surrender, but he allegedly opened fire with a country-made pistol. According to the police, he fired two shots, one of which struck the bulletproof jacket of an officer.
In retaliation, the police fired two rounds, and one bullet hit Verma on the chest. He was taken to a hospital, where he succumbed to injuries during treatment, police said.
According to the police, two criminal cases of physical assault were pending against him — one registered in 2021 and another in 2024, at different police stations in the city. The police are “looking further into his background” and collecting information about his family members.
Meanwhile, the victim underwent surgery at a hospital in Lucknow on Friday.
“If her recovery is stable, she is likely to be discharged within 7 to 10 days, though further surgery may be needed later,” a senior doctor told The Indian Express.
The child is now stable, under observation and recovering in the postoperative ward, added the doctor.
(With inputs from Ananya Shukla, an intern at the Lucknow office of The Indian Express)
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